


Broken Innocence

by Evil_Bat_Cat



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Author did her research, But still kind of a genocide run, Character Death, Dead Sans, Depressed Sans, Disbelief Papyrus, Eventual Happy Ending, Gen, Geno Papyrus, Genocide with Sans dying first, Hurt Sans, Not really a genocide run, Papyrus Needs A Hug, Protective Papyrus, Protective Sans, Sad Papyrus, Sans Needs A Hug, Sans Remembers Resets, Time Travel, not so innocent Papyrus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-07-22 10:59:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7434172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Evil_Bat_Cat/pseuds/Evil_Bat_Cat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A human fell into the Underground, and began befriending every monster they came across, including the skeleton brothers. Their acts of kindness seemed to be genuine, giving the monsters no reason to distrust them... Until the human pulled a one-eighty and killed Sans when everyone least expected it.</p><p>This is the story of how Papyrus grieves over his older brother's death, and how he discovers the truth of the mysteries surrounding his seemingly lazy sibling. When all is said and done, will Papyrus ever be the same, or will this experience change his personality forever?</p><p>(Based on the AU "Disbelief Papyrus," but with an original twist. This is mainly Papyrus-centric, but it does focus on mystery of Sans during the story.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Papyrus is Sans a Brother

It was a beautiful day outside, Papyrus decided as he made his way to the brightly lit building of Grillby's. The fact that the weather never changed in Snowdin did not deter his belief that the day was quite marvelous compared to the previous ones. Maybe it was the spark of hope in his soul that strengthened his enthusiasm? There was a human Underground after all, and they had proved themselves to be quite friendly. Every monster who had encountered the human had been taken by the child's child-like innocence, and Papyrus was not an exception. When the human offered to be Papyrus' friend as well, the skeleton was filled with glee. The Great Papyrus was always up for making new friends!

But sadly, his friend had to continue their journey without his aid, and they had to part ways. Not wanting to lose touch with his new companion, Papyrus programmed his number into the human's cellphone and gave them the instruction to call him whenever they needed his assistance, even if that 'assistance' was a simple chat over the non-existent weather. Having a conversation with someone as great as Papyrus could encourage them when they felt discouraged after all!

After the human left Snowdin, Papyrus decided that it was time for him to report to Undyne and find a way to convince her that the human meant no harm. It would be a difficult task of course, but Papyrus would do his best to ensure the safety of his new friend. After all, how would he be able to call himself the Great Papyrus if he wasn't able to save an innocent human? He could not allow his good name to be tarnished by such a misdeed! 

Before Papyrus ventured off, he decided it would be wise if he dragged his brother back to his station while he was at it. Sans was known to slip away from his work and slack off at Grillby's around this time, so that was where Papyrus went. He always wondered how it was possible for Sans to be so incredibly lazy when he was related to the most hard working monster in the entire Underground. One would think that a little bit of Papyrus' greatness would have rubbed off on him by now!

Well... There was another reason why Papyrus decided to fetch his brother: Sans was in another one of his moods again. Papyrus didn't quite understand it, but there were days where Sans' grins seemed to be strained, and his eye lights would dim. On days like those, Papyrus did his best to cheer his brother up, but he wasn't always successful. Unfortunately, today happened to be one of those days.

He wasn't sure what brought on the feeling, but whenever Sans was in one of those moods, Papyrus was afraid to let him out of his sight. He didn't know why he felt that way, but a part of him believed that his brother was in danger of doing something reckless if he was left to his own devices for too long. Papyrus wasn't even sure what he believed Sans would do, but he never gave himself the chance to find out. It was his job as Sans' brother to keep him out of danger, and while he would never say it out loud, Papyrus saw that duty as something far more important than training to join the Royal Guard. Even if his brother was lazy and had a bad taste of humor, he was Papyrus' brother. And that meant that he would always come first.

As Papyrus mulled over his thoughts, a sudden scream pierced the air, making his head snap up to look at the front entrance of Grillby's. What was going on? What was the reason for all of that ruckus?

His questions were unknowingly answered when he saw Frisk dart out of the bar, a giddy grin on their face. Papyrus stopped in his tracks, tilting his head at them curiously. "Human?" He asked, the sound of his voice making the child stiffen and turn towards him. "How did you make it back to Snowdin so quickly?" He noticed the red stain on the front of their striped shirt, and quickly came to the conclusion that they returned to town in order to grab a quick bite to eat before they continued on their journey. Papyrus was about to scold them for eating such disgustingly greasy food when Dogamy and Dogaressa emerged from the restaurant as well, teeth bared as they snarled in the direction of the smirking human. 

"I'll chop you in half!" Dogaressa hollered, summoning her magical axe in one of her paws. 

Instead of looking frightened by the threat, Frisk's grin only widened, but they still spun on their heal and made a mad dash in the direction of Snowdin forest. The fur on the back puff of both of the dogs rose as they gave chase, ignoring Papyrus' demand to be told what was going on. The skeleton could only watch in complete puzzlement as the trio disappeared into the trees beyond the town's borders.

Papyrus was about to follow them when Doggo slid outside as well, eyes wide and hind legs shaking as he stared at the skeletal monster. "It's a good thing you're here. Come quick, Sans doesn't have much time before he..." Doggo's ears drooped, and he held the doors open for the sentry to go through.

"I do not understand," Papyrus said as he absently entered the bar, Doggo closing the door behind him. "What do you mean, Sans doesn't-" He found himself frozen in the doorway when he saw what the rest of the occupants of the bar was gathered around: the short skeleton who was sitting on his knees in the middle of the establishment, one hand pressed against his ribcage while the other was pushing away Grillby, who was trying to hand him a burger.

"'s not gonna work, Grillbz," his brother said, grinning up at the frustrated bartender. "'sides, we both know that stuff will go right through me anyways."

"...Now is not the time for jokes..." the fire elemental said, slowly setting the rejected burger on a nearby table. "...What can I do?"

"Nothing will-" Sans made a sudden grunting noise, and he curled in on himself a little, putting more pressure on his ribcage as he did so. 

The sound of his obvious pain snapped Papyrus out of his earlier trance, and he all but stumbled to his older brother's side. "Sans?" He asked, watching as his sibling stiffened at the sound of his voice, almost as though he was the last person he wanted to see. But Papyrus didn't think much of it, he was too occupied by the alarm bells ringing in his head. "Brother, what is going on?"

Sans finally turned to face him, and the first thing Papyrus noticed was the stream of red liquid dripping out of his mouth. Was that ketchup? "Sup, bro?" He pushed his free hand against the floorboards to lift himself up, but the action seemed to bring him too much pain to bare, for he let out a quiet hiss before allowing his tailbone to fall back down. His grin didn't waver the entire time. "Nothing's going on, the kiddo and I just had a-" his voice hitched, and his smile wavered for a split second before he forced it to return. "-misunderstanding, that's all." Grillby shot the skeleton a disgruntled look, but Sans pretended not too notice, fixing his gaze on his younger brother instead. "Uh, aren't you going to be late for your meeting with Undyne? You should get going... Right now."

The fact that Sans was trying to get rid of him was not lost to Papyrus. He wasn't that naive. "Sans, I-" he stopped, noticing that the edges of his brother's hand was also stained red, and so was the certain areas of his blue coat. Frowning in growing confusion, Papyrus grabbed his brother's wrist and gently pulled his hand away from his body. His eye lights immediately widened when he saw the red gash that Sans had somehow managed to keep hidden this far, an ugly wound that let out a stream of crimson red liquid. "Are you... bleeding?" Papyrus choked out, finally kneeling down besides him.

"...Heh. Close enough. You were always a pretty bright kid. Guess there's no point in trying to pretend that nothing's going on" Sans closed his eye sockets, his grin still not faltering. "But hey, could you do me a favor and leave? You could head over to Undyne's place and stay there for a couple of days. Sound good?"

"No, it does not 'sound good!'" Papyrus exclaimed, looking his brother straight in the eye socket. "Sans, you only have one HP, are you..." He wove a hand in front of his brother's face to summon his HP bar, and Papyrus' soul quivered when he saw that Sans' HP was now at zero. That wasn't possible. He couldn't be at zero and still be alive... Unless he held onto life for a few more minutes just to have this conversation with Papyrus? But that meant he didn't have much time left. "How- Why-" He shook his head and yanked Sans into a strong hug, ignoring his muffled protests. "I will not allow you to die!"

"Pap..." To Papyrus' alarm, he felt Sans' body disappear for a split second, but it returned almost just as quickly, though it lacked the solidity it had before. His soul sank in his chest when he felt it happen; it meant that Sans was turning into dust. "Bro, please get out of here. You don't need to see this." Sans attempted to push his younger brother away, but Papyrus only tightened his grip in response.

"I will not leave you." Papyrus felt tears flow down his face, but he was too preoccupied by his fear of losing his brother to feel any kind of embarrassment for crying. "Sans, please don't leave me." He buried his face in his brother's shoulder, his own body shaking with suppressed sobs. "I'll stop calling you lazy... I-I'll laugh at your jokes... I will buy you all of the ketchup you want! J-Just don't leave me. Please."

"...." Sans let out a deep, rattling sigh, sounding resigned. "You'll see me again soon, alright bro? I promise." He shifted slightly. "Love ya, Pap."

Papyrus' response fell short when the weight of his brother completely disappeared. The skeleton could only stare down at the blue hoodie, white shirt, black shorts, and pink slippers that he was left with, a thick layer of dust covering each of them. "Brother...?" He tightened his grip on the fabric of Sans' coat, staring at the dusty powder coating it. "Sans?"

The inside of his soul became icy, and he could only stare down at where his brother had been only seconds ago. He could not comprehend what had just happened, no matter how hard he tried to focus. Sans was... Gone?

"...Doggo, call Undyne," he heard Grillby say, and Papyrus lifted his gaze from Sans' coat to see that the crowd that had gathered earlier had mostly disappeared, and only Doggo and Greater Dog remained. How long had Papyrus just been sitting there, staring at what remained of his brother? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? 

"Right, right," Doggo mumbled, fishing his cellphone out of his pant pocket with a shaky paw. Papyrus watched as the canine used his pointer claw to dial Undyne's number, barely able to focus on the movement. "Undyne? It's Doggo. There was an incident at Snowdin...You should probably come here yourself. Huh? You don't want to miss your meeting with Papyrus?" He looked at Papyrus, then down at what was left of Sans, swallowing. "He's here. It's pretty bad, Undyne. You better come quick." He listened to what Undyne was saying on the other end, and nodded to himself before hanging up the phone. "She'll be here soon. She said that she'll ask the Riverperson for a ride," he told Grillby.

"...Ten minutes, then." Grillby decided out loud, turning his attention to the skeleton on the floor. "Papyrus, I know it's hard to grasp what happened, but it's important that you store his dust away before you accidentally lose it."

"I..." On a normal day, Papyrus would scoff at the idea of someone as great as him making the mistake of losing something, but he felt the confidence in his soul disappearing. Grillby was right, Sans was too important for him to accidentally lose. He needed to put him somewhere safe. "Do you have something? Please."

"I will return with something shortly," Grillby told him kindly, the flames on his head crackling as he turned away and disappeared through his back room. He soon returned with a glass jar in his grasp, handing it over to the skeletal monster who remained seated on the wooden floor. "Will you need assistance? In storing his dust, I mean."

"No. I... I want to do this by myself." Papyrus carefully picked up Sans' belongings and wiped every participle of dust he could find into the jar that Grillby had provided. Some of the dust had taken on a shade of red due to the areas of Sans' shirt and jacket that he had bled onto, and the sight made Papyrus sick to his non-existing stomach. But he did not allow himself to waste time, and picked up the small pile of dust on the floor once he was done cleaning off the clothing. Once he was sure that he had not left any behind, Papyrus screwed the lid of the jar back on. His brother's remains were now safe.

Merely seconds after he gathered his brother's clothing and dust in his arms and picked himself off of the floor, the bar's doors flew open and Undyne stomped inside. "Will someone finally explain what the emergency is?!" She shouted, a bit of her red hair falling out of her hair tie and into her face. 

"Have you heard the reports of the human in the Underground?" Doggo inquired meekly.

"Of course I have!" Undyne snapped, sounding strangely offended. "No human is able to pass through here without me knowing! But why have you brought them up? What have they done? Did they attack someone?" Papyrus watched the exchange silently, holding his brother's belongings close to his ribcage as another wave of grief washed over his soul.

"T-The human came in here with Sans the Skeleton. I think he invited them to have lunch with him." Doggo glanced at Papyrus, and Undyne followed his gaze. When she saw the clothes and the jar that her protege held in his arms, her eyes widened in realization. She then turned towards Doggo, eyes narrowed in a silent demand to continue, which he did. "The two talked for a while, and I didn't think much of it since Sans seemed so relaxed. After a while, Sans got up and said he had to head back to work. H-He was about halfway to the door when the human called him back, said they had something to tell him. Sans waited for them to catch up... And then they attacked." Doggo held back a grieved whine. "They used some kind of knife. And Sans only had one HP, he didn't stand a chance..."

"I see..." Undyne nodded stiffly, her gaze returning to the tear stained face of Papyrus. "I want everyone searching for that human immediately. And when they are found, they will not be shown mercy." Doggo nodded in reply, but Greater Dog let out a high pitched whine, making Undyne's eye twitch. "I don't care if you thought they were your friend! They tricked all of you into thinking they were good so they could catch you off guard later on. Don't make the same mistake twice."

"Yes sir," Doggo mumbled, and Greater Dog made a short bark in response, signalling that he would obey. The two dog-like monsters then exited the restaurant side by side, letting out similar howls to let the rest of the guard know that they would be joining them soon.

Once they were gone, Undyne turned to Grillby. "Gather all of Snowdin's residents here and lock your doors to prevent the human from coming inside. We can't let this human take any more innocent lives than they already have." She looked towards Papyrus as she said this, her eyes dipping down to the jar of dust he held before returning to his face. "I must speak to Doctor Alphys and King Asgore before I join everyone in their search. I will be taking Papyrus with me. There will be no need for you to open your doors after you lock them, so don't bother doing so."

"...Very well..." Grillby adjusted the glasses on his face as he made his way to the exit, momentarily pausing in the doorway to say "...good luck..." before leaving Papyrus alone with Undyne.

There was a small, awkward pause before the fish-monster spoke. "...Hey, Papyrus." Undyne slowly made her way over to him, face set in sudden uncertainty. "I'm not good at comforting people, but..." She looked down at the floorboards. "Sans, as lazy as he was, he was a good person. His death won't go unavenged, I promise you that." Papyrus found that he couldn't think of a way to answer that, so he simply nodded along. If Undyne noticed that he wasn't fully comprehending her words, she didn't comment on it. "Here, let's drop that stuff off at your house before we head over to Alphys' lab. I need to talk to her about what happened here, and I'm sure you want answers too."

Papyrus looked down at everything he was carrying, and his soul squeezed at the thought of letting go of them for even a second. But he knew that he couldn't carry all of that everywhere he went, it was too impractical. "Okay," he agreed, voice soft. "Let's go."

The two monsters left the warmth of Grillby's and trudged through the snow to Papyrus's house. The skeleton blankly stared ahead of him the entire time, finding that he no longer found the atmosphere to be as beautiful as he found it earlier. The light that usually reflected off of the white snow seemed to be much dimmer than Papyrus ever remembered. But then again, maybe the dull ache in his soul was the cause for the change in perspective...

It did not take them long to arrive at Papyrus' home, and they quickly let themselves inside. "I will return shortly... Make yourself at home until then," Papyrus' voice sounded odd, even to himself, but he didn't dwell on it for very long. Not wanting to keep Undyne waiting when she was obviously in a hurry, Papyrus quickly led himself upstairs and went to his brother's room without a second thought. The door was locked of course, but the skeleton was able to rummage through Sans' coat and pull out the key to his room, swiftly unlocking the door.

After turning on the lights, Papyrus found that Sans' room didn't change much from the last time he had been there, many years ago. Near the center of the room was an almost unused treadmill, with a blank piece of paper taped to it. In the top right corner was his bed, though it was really just a mattress with a raggedy blanket thrown over it and an uncovered pillow on the floor nearby. Next to the bed was Sans' desk, which had a broken lamp on top of it. The rest of Sans' room was an even bigger mess. To the south of his mattress was a self-sustaining tornado of trash (Papyrus always wondered how Sans created that), and on the other side of the room was a giant pile of dirty socks. 

Papyrus wasn't sure where his brother kept the rest of his clothes, so he carefully folded them and set them on top of his mattress, placing the jar that held his dust on his desk. He stared at the jar for a moment, more tears springing in his eyes when the truth finally sunk in- Sans was gone.

"Sans..." Papyrus fell to his knees besides the mattress, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he let out hoarse sobs. "Brother, please come back... I can't... I won't..." the image of his deceased brother came to the surface of his mind, and something within him completely shattered.

"I... I miss you."


	2. Sans Gets Dunked On... Wait, What?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A skeleton and a human walked into a bar...
> 
> You would think the skeleton would have known to move out of the way.

"Alphys?! Open up, would you? I'm burning up out here!" Undyne shouted at the giant lab doors, sweat pouring off of her body like rain drops. Even though she had removed her battle armor on the way to Hotland, her fish-like body made it impossible for her to stay in heated areas for long periods of time. It made Papyrus wonder how Undyne and Alphys met in the first place if one of them hated heat and the other rarely went outside at all.

"C-coming!" A voice squealed from the other side, and the door quickly slid open, revealing a short, yellow lizard-like monster. "H-Hi, Undyne. Sorry about the wait, I was in the b-bathroom." She flushed and stepped to the side, allowing the two visitors access to the interior of her lab."M-Make yourself at home."

Papyrus walked inside after Undyne, taking in the giant computer screen nearby, and the sets of escalators that travelled upstairs. The desk was cluttered with sloppy notes and random trinkets, and in the distance, Papyrus could see a sliding door with a bathroom sign next to it. It was fairly small for such an important laboratory...

"S-Sorry about the mess." Alphys shuffled closer to her computer monitor, face still slightly pink. "I-I would have c-cleaned if this wasn't such short n-notice."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Undyne huffed. "The messy state of your lab reflects the passion you have for your work! You should be proud of this clutter!!!"

Alphys' face was starting to resemble a tomato due to how red it was becoming. "Thanks, U-Undyne..." She stared at the other female for a minute, eyes wide with an emotion that Papyrus couldn't identify. It was almost like... an extreme amount of affection was being directed towards the other. It was like a look that family members would give each other, but much more fierce. Papyrus did not know how to describe it. "Oh, um! I accidentally zoned out!" Alphys looked even more embarrassed than before, if that was possible, and tore her eyes away from Undyne to acknowledge Papyrus. "Y-You must be Papyrus! It's great to finally meet you in person! I mean, talking on the internet is great and all and your posts are really funny and..." She paused, her excitement dying out almost instantly. "I...I just wish we had met under d-different circumstances..." Her eyes became watery. "I'm s-so sorry about what happened to S-Sans. He was an amazing monster. He... He didn't deserve what happened to him."

Papyrus did his best to ignore the fresh grief that gnawed at his soul, choosing to focus on something else instead. "I am sorry, but I did not know you knew my brother?" He frowned at her, wondering if they also spoke to each other online. Wouldn't Sans have mentioned that he was friends with the great Doctor Alphys?

Undyne also seemed to be confused by this. "Yeah, what's up with that? I didn't know you two had some nerd convention going on."

"Oh, Sans didn't t-tell anyone about me? I can't say I blame him..." She shuffled her feet awkwardly. "Um, he used to help me out with some of my r-research. But then there was an accident? Or something?? He d-didn't tell me what happened, but he said that he couldn't h-help me anymore. I thought maybe his sickness started acting up again?" She smiled sadly. "Well, he _did_ come over after that, b-but it was usually just to goof off and w-watch anime. He was a great friend... but I m-missed working with him."

For some reason, Papyrus felt betrayed after hearing this bit of information. He didn't mind that his brother went out of his way to make a friend as brilliant as Alphys, but the fact that it was kept a secret from him stung a little. He wasn't even aware that Sans was interested in Alphys' field of science. But now that he thought about it, the quantum physics books in their house was starting to make sense...

"Sickness?" Undyne asked, drawing Papyrus out of his thoughts. "I didn't know he was sick." She looked at Papyrus as she said this, frowning as she waited for an explanation.

But Papyrus had no explanation to give. "I was not aware that he was sick either. Monsters don't usually catch illnesses... Was it the flu?"

Alphys gave him a look like he just grew a second head. "Are you serious?" She studied his face for a moment, looking completely baffled. "Oh my god? You're actually serious?! How did you not know about this???"

Papyrus felt his soul sink in his chest. He was missing something important, he could feel it. "What was wrong with my brother?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but Undyne cut her off before she was able to make a sound. The fish monster looked impatient. "Look, we can talk about it later. Right now, we need to talk about what to do about this human." She slammed one of her fists into her other palm, glaring at nothing in particular, but managing to do so fiercely. "That human killed one of my sentries." Papyrus flinched at the reminder, but Undyne pretended not to notice. "There's no way I'm going to let them get away with that! I say we send me to Waterfall to corner them!" She grinned maliciously. "They'll pay for the dust they spilled, I'll make sure of it!"

Alphys nodded, shuffling over to her computer where she was able to bring up a screen that seemed to be full of security footage from different areas in the Underground. On one of the squares, Papyrus was able to make out a familiar striped shirt in the middle of a heavy blizzard. He briefly felt like looking away, but didn't. "I-It looks like the human is still in Snowdin Forest. From the direction they're walking in, I can tell they're on their way back into t-town... I hope everyone was able to lock themselves in G-Grillby's in time..." She shook herself out of her thoughts. "A-anyways, you should have enough to intercept them at Waterfall." She frowned thoughtfully. "J-Just make sure that you don't damage their soul in any way. Asgore will n-need that to break the Barrier."

"Break the Barrier..." Papyrus repeated slowly, a new thought blossoming in his skull that refused to be ignored. Before thinking it over for too long, he decided to act on it, too tired to put much thought into it. "Undyne, I don't believe we should kill the human..."

Undyne stared at him. "What?! Papyrus, that thing killed your brother! We can't just let an act of murder get away unavenged! The human must pay for what they have done!!!"

For some reason... That didn't sit right with Papyrus. Something within his soul squirmed at the thought of murdering this human.... The same human that had loved his spaghetti, the one who had praised him for his brilliant sentry work. This child had even laughed at his brother's puns, didn't they? Why would they do that if they only wanted to hurt Sans later on...?

Papyrus shook his head to clear his thoughts, frowning at his captain uncertainly. "I...I think it may have been an accident." At these words, Alphys and Undyne both shot him looks of disbelief, so he hurriedly continued before they had a chance to interrupt. "My brother only had one HP. It is possible that the human did not mean to harm Sans, maybe they only meant to pull a prank on him? Without knowing how low his HP levels were, the human could have easily killed him on accident..."

Undyne growled in frustration, looking as though she was seconds away from stomping her feet and throwing a tantrum. "If it was an accident, they wouldn't have ran away when they were confronted!! The fact that they fled the scene right after they killed Sans _must_ mean that they were guilty!!!"

"Why would the human waste so much time befriending everyone if they were just going to commit murder?!" Papyrus argued, voice raising. "This human had been my friend, Undyne! They cherished my puzzles, they agreed that Junior Jumble is superior to Crosswords, we even went on a date!" He felt his skull becoming hotter for some reason, making him feel like he was close to exploding. "I cannot simply pretend that all of that did not happen! My brother's death grieves me more than anything, but I refuse to execute an innocent person." He took a deep breath. "I refuse to turn my back on my friend."

"Idiot," Undyne hissed, shaking her head at him. "You want a trial for this kid? Don't you see that they'll just trick you again? I have a better idea." She looked at Alphys. "Pull up the security footage from Grillby's earlier today. If we watch what happened between Sans and the human then we'll be able to determine if they're innocent, which they're _not._ "

"W-We're going to watch Sans... _die_?" Alphys squeaked, glancing over at Papyrus with wide eyes. "Um, that doesn't f-feel right. I don't think Sans would w-want us to watch what happened."

"I don't think he would want us to act on this until we know for sure what happened," Undyne retorted, crossing her arms as she turned her gaze back to Papyrus. "It's up to you. I mean, he was _your_ brother. If seeing him die again is too much for you, then-"

"Do it," Papyrus said quickly, ignoring the sick feeling in his soul. No, he didn't _want_ to watch Sans die again, nor did he have any desire to see what had been the cause for it, but he knew that he had to. He _had_ to know why his brother had been taken away from him.

"B-but..." Alphys received a pointed look from Undyne, and sighed in defeat. "F-Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you... You'll regret w-watching this." Despite her warning, the lizard brought her hands onto her keyboard and hurriedly typed up a sequence of commands that caused video footage from Grillby's to appear on screen. "A-Are you sure about this?" Alphys asked quietly, and Papyrus nodded before he could lose his nerve. Alphys returned the nod, though she didn't seem as certain. "Okay... Here we go."

For a few seconds, nothing happened at all. The three monsters watched as some of Grillby's regulars drank and chatted with each other cheerfully, no sign of Sans or the human in sight. It was just a normal day in the bar, for now.

But then, all of a sudden, Sans and the human appeared near the entrance of the bar. They literally _appeared_ , spontaneously materializing in the room without any prior warning. Papyrus saw Undyne give him a confused look out of the corner of his eye socket, but ignored it. What was he supposed to say to her when he had no idea what just happened? Maybe it was a video error.

But then why did Alphys look like she had expected it to happen?

 _"Fast shortcut, huh?"_ Sans asked with his usual grin, and the human blinked a few times before boldly returning the smile. Papyrus felt a confusing mixture of emotions at this scene. Seeing his brother and hearing his voice again only made Papyrus' soul fill itself with grief once again. But on the other hand, seeing him and the human act so friendly towards each other gave him a feeling of hope. He was right, it had to have been an accident!

After greeting the other customers of the bar, Sans led the human to the two empty bar stools at the front of the bar. The human didn't even seem surprised when the seat they sat on happened to have a whoopee cushion hidden underneath it. Sans didn't comment on that, choosing to get straight to business. _"Anyway, let's order. Whaddya want?"_

The human made an indecisive humming noise, tapping their fingers on the bar as they thought. _"Fries!"_ They finally decided, beaming at the skeleton.

 _"Hey, that sounds pretty good."_ Sans nodded at the human's choice, and his eye lights moved towards Grillby. _"Grillby, we'll have a double order of the fry."_ The fire elemental immediately set aside the glass he was cleaning and hurried over to the back of the restaurant. Once he was gone, Sans made a comb materialize in his hand and ran it over the back of his skull. Undyne held back a snort at the sight of action. _"So... what do you think of my brother?"_

The human shrugged. _"He makes himself seem cooler than he actually is."_ Papyrus stilled at that, feeling a little hurt by the statement. He thought the human liked him...

Sans' eye sockets darkened slightly, and his grin seemed strained. _"Hey, pal, sarcasm isn't funny, okay?"_ He glanced to the side. _"My brother's a real star. He's the person who pushed me to get this sentry job. Maybe it's strange, but sometimes..."_ He paused, fiddling his thumbs idly as strung his thoughts together before continuing, _"Sometimes it's nice to have someone call you out on being lazy, even though nothing could be further from the truth."_ For some reason, that stung more than the human's 'uncool' comment.

The human nodded, a distant look on their face. They seemed to be remembering something, and from what Papyrus could tell, it wasn't a very happy memory. Their face twisted slightly to show their discomfort of the subject.

Luckily, Grillby appeared just in time, setting down two sets of red baskets full of fries on the bar top. Sans acknowledged this by bringing out a bottle of ketchup of his coat and held it out to the human. _"Want some?"_ He asked, receiving a shake of the head in reply. _"More for me."_ The human giggled as he brought the bottle up to his teeth and chugged the entire thing down all in one go. Papyrus wasn't sure if he should feign his usual disgust at the act or finally learn to appreciate his brother's strange ways. He decided to remain silent.

After that, Sans made an effort to defend his brother's honor by telling the human the story of how Papyrus began his training to join the Royal Guard. Papyrus smiled a little more at that, pleased that his brother had been so proud of him for working so hard. Sans had told him on several occasions that he was glad to have such a cool brother like him, but this seemed different somehow. Papyrus never knew that Sans talked about him to other monsters... It made his soul feel lighter just thinking about it.

Once the story was over, the two fell into a small amount of silence. Eventually, Sans spoke again. _"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something."_ There was a small flicker of movement, and a flash of black, and all of a sudden Sans and the human were in completely different positions. Sans was now standing in front of his barstool, and the human had their front facing him. " _Welp, that was a long break. I can't believe I let ya pull me away from work for that long."_ There was a collective snort within the lab. _"Oh, by the way... I'm flat broke. Will you foot the bill? It's just ten thousand G."_

The human scoffed. _"Hell no."_

Sans didn't seem to mind the language. He actually seemed to know it was coming, oddly enough. _"Just kidding. Grillby, put it on my tab."_ With that, Sans began to walk towards the exit. Papyrus tensed where he stood, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen next.

 _"Sans... Wait."_ The human jumped down from their barstool, expression unreadable. Grillby and Doggo spared them a sideways glance, but didn't seem to sense that anything was wrong, so they went back to their previous tasks.

Sans stopped in the middle of the establishment, turning around to face the human. He looked... confused. _"What's up, kiddo? I gotta get back to my post."_

The human shuffled forward, and Papyrus noticed their eyes now shone with tears. _"I...I wanted to talk to you about the previous timeline."_

The previous... what?

Sans tensed, but quickly forced himself to relax. _"Heh... As far as I'm concerned, that's in the past. You quit and Reset the timeline. Now we can do this the right way."_ His usual grin widened, but it held no amount of happiness. _"You're not completely redeemed or anything, but I'd say it's a start. Just take what you can get, am I right?"_

 _"Yeah..."_ They nodded slowly, wiping away their tears with the back of their sleeve. They seemed much calmer now, but also seemed... resigned? _"Well, there's just one more thing I wanted to tell you."_ They looked down at their feet.

Curious, Sans took a few steps towards them. _"What's up? If you're still feeling guilty about it-"_

The child sudden lunged forward with a strange kind of knife, a wicked grin replacing the skittish mask they had donned. Sans' eye lights widened, and he moved backwards to dodge it, but the human already managed to cut into his ribcage. And since Sans only had one HP, that hit was all the human needed to land in order to take him out.

 _"Get dunked on,"_ the child whispered, backing away from him. Sans' eye lights went completely black and he summoned a couple of bones, but they fizzled out when he collapsed onto the floorboards. He could only stare up at the human, clutching his wound with an almost inaudible groan.

The entire bar had become deadly silent by that point. All of the customers stared at the injured skeleton in shock, not quite processing what had happened. The cup that Grillby had been cleaning fell to the ground and shattered, the sound of broken glass managing to snap a couple of monsters out of their trances.

 _"Heheheh. That expression..."_ Sans coughed, and more red liquid came flying out of his teeth. But he didn't seem to notic, or maybe he just didn't care. _"...that's the expression of someone who's looking for a bad time."_

 _"And that's the expression of someone who **got** one."_ The human giggled, wiping their knife onto their striped shirt and leaving behind a red stain in the process. _"I'll make sure to send Papyrus your way very soon. I wouldn't want you to get **bonely** in the afterlife!"_

Sans' left eye socket crackled with blue and yellow magic, and in the present, Alphys made a surprised squeak. Sans definitely wasn't amused by the pun. _**"Don't touch Papyrus."**_ The skeleton snarled, voice lowering several octaves, but the human only shrugged their shoulders, took a look at the other customers, and decided to flee before anyone was able to overcome their shock.

Fortunately, they didn't get far before the guard finally reacted. _"Get that human!"_ It was Doggo that howled the command, and he was able to bring everyone's attention to what needed to be done. Dogamy and Dogaressa were the first to act, the hair on their necks rising as the flew out of their chairs and darted towards the exit to chase after the human.

 _"Sans, you need to eat something to raise your HP levels!"_ Grillby ran around the counter with a burger in hands, rushing towards his most regular customer with an amount of panic that has never been seen in the elemental before. _"Here, take it. Hurry."_

And that was when Papyrus finally came inside. _"I do not understand..."_ He was telling Doggo as he walked through the front doors. _"What do you mean, Sans doesn't-"_

In present time, Papyrus turned his head away from the screen. "Turn it off. Please." He couldn't watch his brother turn into dust again. He just couldn't.

"R-right..." Alphys turned the video off, shoulders slumping in defeat. "Poor Sans... If the human didn't take him by surprise-" She scowled. "-they would have gotten their ass handed to them." Her eyes widened when she realized what she just said. "Um, s-sorry about the language."

"It's... Fine." Papyrus didn't want to tell Alphys how wrong she was. Sans was only able to deal out one damage at a time, after all, which made it clear that he would have been murdered either way.

Well. There was no use denying it anymore. The human _meant_ to kill his brother, there was no accident to it. But why? What did Sans ever do to the human that would make them want to dust him? Why did they take Sans away from him? _Why_?

"Guess that's that." Undyne seemed a little shaken from what she saw, but she put on a brave face. "I'm sorry to say it Papyrus, but it looks like the human only befriended you so they could get to Sans. I don't know what they had against him, but they obviously wanted him out of the picture for some reason."

"They both said something about t-timelines... and something about a reset?" Alphys scratched her head. "I'm not sure if that's code for anything... B-but it's easy to tell that they k-know each other from somewhere."

"I am not sure what any of that means." Papyrus sighed, unhappy that he didn't know enough about his brother to solve this mystery himself. How could he pride himself of being the greatest monster in the Underground if his own brother was a total mystery to him?

"Well... I n-noticed that the video feed was a little distorted for a s-second." Alphys ' fingers hovered over the keyboard. "I think S-Sans might have done something, but I sh-should be able to fix it." She rewound the footage until they were at the part where Sans was going to ask the human something, then began to mess with the settings. "If I speed up the feed to a great enough extent..." She pressed play.

 _"Oh yeah, I wanted to ask you something."_ Right after Sans said this, the world around them seemed to freeze in place, but due to Alphys' work on the speed, the video feed remained unaffected. _"Have you ever heard of a talking flower?"_ The human nodded, still keeping their innocent mask in place. _"So you know all about it: the echo flower."_ Something in the human's expression shifted. _"They're all over the marsh. Say something to them, and they'll repeat it over and over..."_ The human tilted their head. _"What about it? Well, Papyrus told me something interesting the other day. Sometimes, when no one else is around, a flower appears and whispers things to him."_

In the present, Papyrus felt like hitting himself on the front of his skull. Why didn't he think of that before?! "Flowery?!" He called out, turning away from the computer. "Flowery, I know you're there!!!" His friend was _everywhere_ , always ready to give Papyrus friendly advice whenever he needed it. Why didn't Papyrus think to call him sooner? "Flowery!"

"Now is not the time to be screaming at your imaginary friend!" Undyne shouted at him, making Alphys jump.

"T-The flower is imaginary?" The lizard questioned, adjusting her glasses with shaky claws. "Why would S-Sans mention it if it d-doesn't exist?"

"Sans believed _anything_ Papyrus told him!" Undyne exclaimed, one eye twitching. "It would have been cute if it wasn't so goddamn annoying. Sans' stupidity sickened me..."

"Undy-" Papyrus began to scold, but was cut off by a new voice.

"What a mean this to say about someone you didn't really know..." Everyone jumped at the sound and spun around, only to be greeted by a smiling golden flower. "Howdy!"

"Flowery!!" Papyrus shouted in greeting, beaming at his plant-like friend. "I am very glad to see you!"

The flower giggled. "It's _Flowey_ , Papyrus! But it's great to see you too." He grinned up at the skeleton. "I heard you're in need of advice. What can I do for you, my friend?"

"I need you to tell me about the Resets," Papyrus told him, not once questioning if his friend knew anything about the subject. Flowey knew _everything_.

At the mentioning of Resets, the flower's grin seemed to widen. "This'll be _so_ interesting."

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I just wanted to thank you all for your kudos and comments on the last chapter! 
> 
> I wanted to let you all know that this isn't my first time writing, though it is the first time I have written anything for Undertale. But don't worry, I did quite a bit of research before starting this story. That doesn't mean that I'm perfect of course, and I would not mind if anyone corrected me if they found any mistakes in my work. Many thanks!


	3. Never trust a flower. That Is the One Constant Of This World.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the super long wait. I mean, I could probably come up with an excuse for why I haven't updated this book in forever, but truthfully I just didn't feel like it. Whenever I attempted to start updating, all of my inspiration suddenly vanished. All I really had to do was sit and type a few words down to get the ball rolling, but for a while I didn't even know where to start. Sorrynotsorry.

"Imagine yourself facing against the human, ready to kill them to save all of monsterkind. But in the end, they get manage to land the last blow. You die." Flowey grinned up at Papyrus, Undyne, and Alphys, his eyes showing slight amusement. "But as you feel your mind slip away from your body, a sudden thought comes to you. "I don't want to die!" you realize. You feel a burning sensation in your body that flows through you, the determination to live on. Using that power inside of you, you return a point where you last felt safe, back in the past. Returning to certain points in time... we call it resetting. Only one person is able to do it at a time, the person with the most Determination." He giggled. "And the person who has that power now just so happens to be the human who killed your brother. Sans."

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" Undyne shouted. "Do you really expect for us to believe any of this bullshit?! People can't just go back in time because they just feel like it! You need science-y stuff to do that! Right, Alphys?"

Alphys said nothing, but her eyes reflected the horror she was experiencing.

Papyrus finally spoke, "I THINK I UNDERSTAND WHAT A RESET IS, BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH MY BROTHER? WHY DID HE MENTION THE RESETS?"

"You don't seriously believe this guy, do you?!" Undyne shrieked. "Papyrus, there's no way anything he's telling us is true."

"A-Actually..." Alphys finally spoke again, her voice shaky and barely raising above a frightened whisper. Undyne immediately shut up to listen. "There are n-notes that the Royal S-Scientist before me l-left behind. He wrote about a-anomalies in the t-time-space continuum that m-may have been caused by s-someone who continuously w-went back in time..."

"Wait so you're saying this little weed is actually telling the truth?" Undyne asked, quieter this time. But she quickly rose her voice again, unwilling to accept that she might have been wrong "Well, I still don't think we should trust him! How would he know about the Resets? What if he's working together with the human?!"

"I know about the Resets because I used to have that power too," Flowey said, sounding a little irritated. "That is, until the human fell into the Underground. Their Determination somehow exceeds my own, and because of that I can't Reset anymore."

That made a lot of sense, actually. Papyrus always wondered how Flowey seemed to know what was going to happen in the future. But that didn't fully explain the situation. "YOU DIDN'T ANSWER MY QUESTION. WHY WAS SANS INVOLVED IN ANY OF THIS?"

"Well, I don't know how he does it, but Sans is able to remember the Resets." Flowey observed everyone's faces for their reactions, and didn't seem surprised when he was given expressions of confusion. "You don't remember repeating the same days over and over, do you? Because that's what happens when someone Resets. They go back in time to experience the same situation over and over again until...Well, it takes a while for someone to get bored.

"People who don't have any Determination usually forget everything that happened before a Reset. Monsters can live the same day several times without even noticing it! All they feel is a strange sense of deja-vu, maybe even have a vague dream where they experience something that happened in another timeline..." Flowey scowled. "Sans, however, is somehow able to remember every single timeline he has been in. No matter how many times someone Resets, he remembers it. It's...really annoying. Especially since he acts like he has no idea what's going on."

Papyrus felt confused. His brother didn't seem like he had been through any Resets. He acted just like he always did. Maybe??

Now that he thought of it... In a distant memory of his, Papyrus remembered seeing a much happier and carefree version of his brother when they were growing up. "MAYBE HE HAS A LITTLE BIT OF DETERMINATION TOO?" He suggested, inwardly frowning at that thought. Why didn't his brother ever tell him that he had such a cool power like being able to resist the backwards flow of time?

"That's what I thought at first, but Doctor Alphys can tell you why that can't possibly be the case." Flowey gave the lizard monster a cheerful smile, eyes narrowed and daring her to decline.

"U-Um..." Alphys twiddled her claws nervously. "Determination is a chemical found in h-human souls. It gives their souls the power to p-persist after death. M-Monster bodies don't have the physical matter to hold Determination. When a m-monster's magic that makes up it's body mixes with the c-chemical, their bodies...melt." She studied her feet, eyes shimmering with tears. "If another monster was nearby, they m-might... they w-would..." She shook her head. "I-I don't want to talk about it anymore."

"Wait, that doesn't make sense! Flowey, you're a monster and you don't look like you melted!" Undyne shouted.

"I'm a special kind of monster," Flowey said, winking in her direction and making her face twist in anger.

"You little-"

"MAYBE SANS IS SPECIAL TOO?" Papyrus cut in. "I MEAN, WHAT OTHER EXPLANATION IS THERE?"

"Sorry to break it to you Papyrus, but Sans is definitely not like me. You should be thankful for that, actually. But hey, don't look so down... I have a feeling I know where we can get answers from." Flowey tilted his... head. "Sans has a secret room behind your house that I haven't been able to get into, no matter how hard I've tried. I bet he's hiding something important in there that will show us how he's been able to remember everything."

"I REMEMBER THAT DOOR...I ASKED SANS WHAT WAS IN IT AND HE TOLD ME THAT HE KEPT HIS TRASH COLLECTION IN THERE. SO I DIDN'T BOTHER ASKING AGAIN." Now that he thought about it, there probably wasn't a trash collection in there. But it would be just like Sans to have a secret room full of garbage. "IT'S ALWAYS LOCKED. CAN'T YOU POP OUT FROM THE FLOOR AND UNLOCK THE DOOR?"

"I tried that already. It didn't work." Flowey looked annoyed again. "Look, I can't get into Sans' room because it's on the second floor of your house. But you can go in there, and look for the key to the secret room. Think you can handle it?"

Papyrus nodded and put on his best brave face, but he was secretly nervous for whatever waited for them behind the secret door. "THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN HANDLE ANYTHING!"

"Well that's just great, but what the hell are we supposed to do about the human?!" Undyne snapped, not amused in the slightest. "How do I prevent them from getting to the King?"

"You can't," was Flowey's simple answer. "Any attempt to stop the human would be a waste of breath. If you kill them, they'll just keep resetting time and coming back until they are finally able to win. They'll memorize your pattern, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it because you won't know that they reset. The only thing you'll be able to remember is the time they finally beat you."

Undyne was taken aback. "There must something I can do! I can't just...Sit here and do nothing!"

"You could always distract them. Papyrus and I will be looking to see if Sans had any possible way of ending the Resets for good. We'll need someone to stall for time, or else this will all be for nothing."

"WAIT. YOU THINK WE CAN STOP THE HUMAN FROM RESETTING TIME WITH SOMETHING MY BROTHER HAS?!" Papyrus frowned. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID THERE ISN'T A WAY TO STOP THEM."

"Well normally there wouldn't be, but as annoying as your brother is, he's really smart. If there's anyone that has something to stop this, it would be that smiling trashbag." Flowey stretched out his stem, ready to get going. "Are you in?"

"I...I GUESS SO." Truthfully, he wasn't sure if that was actually what he wanted to do. His mind was sluggishly trying to keep up with all of this new information, which was extremely difficult with the mournful haze still shrouding it. He still felt like breaking down and crying, and was very hurt by the human's betrayal, but he knew this was his only chance at getting some answers. He had to know why his brother died. He didn't care that time was looping, or that there was a way to prevent it. His only goal was to find out why the human ever thought that Sans was a threat to them. Even if he could see through the Resets, what would a one HP monster do to someone as powerful as a human? He was harmless... so why.... why did he have to...

He stopped his mind from wandering any further.

"O-Okay. Flowey and Papyrus will go investigate Sans' r-room, Undyne will wait for the human in W-Waterfall, and I..." Alphys adjusted her glasses with a shaky claw. "I-I'll watch the human with my cameras. And if a-anything bad happens, I'll start evacuating more monsters to a s-safe place."

"Yeah yeah, sounds great." Flowey looked at Papyrus expectantly. "Ready to go?"

Papyrus looked to Undyne, suddenly hit with a sense of doubt. "UNDYNE, I..."

The Captain gave him a toothy smile. "Don't bother saying goodbye Paps, because we'll see each other again! I know it." She gave him a confident thumbs up. "I know I failed your brother, but I won't fail him again! Or anyone else, for that matter. We can't lose this time! Not with all of us working together like this! So we don't need to have a teary eyed goodbye because not only is that super lame, but it's also pointless!"

Flowey groaned. "Can we get going already?"

"YES, OF COURSE FLOWEY." Papyrus gave Undyne the biggest smile he could manage. That wasn't saying much since he was literally always smiling, but he liked to think it was impressive nonetheless. "I WON'T FAIL YOU, UNDYNE!" He declared before charging out of the door, hearing Flowey splutter out a complain behind. _"Or you, Sans..."_ he silently added, determined to make things right again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for how shitty this chapter ended up being. Hopefully things will improve in the next chapter. I'm hoping to have this updated every Saturday, but the schedule is still subject to change because I'm getting a new job soon and depending on the days I work, I might not be able to update this every week. I'll try my best though!


	4. Always Be Wary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe that I told everyone that I was going to update every Saturday. Like RIGHT after I said that, I just stopped updating altogether, oops
> 
> Also: Oh my god I'm so sorry about last chapter. That was just awful, even for my standards. I'll make it up to you somehow, okay?? I am so sorry about that ^^;

Flowey told him that he would meet him in front of his house in Snowdin since tunneling through the underground would much faster than having to pop up from the earth every now and then to match Papyrus' pace. Papyrus understood his reasoning and agreed without argument, but his absence meant that Papyrus had to ride on the Riverperson's boat alone with only his thoughts to accompany him.

And Papyrus' head was not the most cheery place to be in at the moment...

As Papyrus listened to the sound of water crashing into the sides of the boat, he thought about the human, Flowey, the Resets, and of course, Sans. He was still unable to fully comprehend what the Resets were, but he understood the gist of it. The human used their time travelling ability to escape the clutches of death and re-experience memories from their past, over and over again. From what Papyrus understood, the person with the ability to Reset was the only one who had full memory of previous timelines, but there were a few others who had vague memories of their previous lifetimes. Flowey was one of the individuals with the ability to remember specific parts of the Resets. Was that because he had the ability to rewind time at one point as well? That would make sense. But what about the other people who were able to remember? Did they have control over the timeline at some point too? Did Sans have that ability?

All of these questions were giving Papyrus a headache, but he was unable to prevent himself from pondering these things over.

 What would it be like, to relive the same few days over and over again? There would never be a fear of running out of time, because he would have all the time in the world to get everything done. And if something went wrong, he could always go back in time to fix it. He would never have to worry about death because in his dying moments, he could simply rewind time until he was perfectly healthy again. Resetting sounded like the greatest power in the world! Sans was so lucky to have experienced that! Papyrus wondered how many different things his older brother had tried while time was being re-winded. Would Sans even be bothered to experiment with it, seeing as how lazy he was? Was Sans always lazy, or was he just acting like it during this timeline? On that note, how far back could the human Reset? How many times has Papyrus gone through his childhood without knowing that it wasn't the first time? How many times did Papyrus watch his brother die right in front of his eye sockets...?

Papyrus frowned as much as his facial structure would allow, finally realizing that Resetting meant bringing Sans back to life. While that was something he wanted more than anything, bringing Sans back meant losing all of his memories. Going back in time meant forgetting everything that he had learned today. He wouldn't remember the consequences of the Resets, how much he should appreciate his older brother, how evil the human truly is, everything. Yes, he wanted to bring Sans back to life, but would that really matter to him once the Reset occurred? Once time was rewound, Papyrus would revert back to how he was. He wouldn't care that Sans was alive, not in the same way that he would if he remembered all of this. He loved his brother, but he only realized that he took Sans' life for granted _after_ he died. If everything Reset, nothing that happened in this current timeline would mean anything to him.

What a dilemma... What was the better choice in this situation? 

"Tra la la," the Riverperson sung, voice soft and soothing to Papyrus' nonexistent ears. But something about their voice still put him on edge regardless, something he couldn't quite put his finger on. "Doctors are not to be trusted."

Wasn't the Riverperson known for giving vague advice? "IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW?" He asked, knowing very well that he Riverperson was known to be vague. It was unlikely that he would get anything valuable out of this conversation, but he did not want to be rude. Besides, there was no harm in listening to their strange ramblings.

"...Always be wary..." They whispered, barely being heard over the sound of water crashing into the frail boat. "...Beware of the man who..." Their speech suddenly trailed off to a halt just as the boat came to a jerking stop, just at the shore of Snowdin. "Come again. Tra la la."

"BUT WHO AM I SUPPOSED TO BE WARY OF?" Papyrus asked as he stepped outside, frowning deeper. The Riverperson did not respond beyond their usually humming, the hood of their cloak tipped down to hide their face. Papyrus felt the itch of unease on his spine, but quickly shook it off. The Riverperson was known for their strange utterances, and everyone knew to not take them very seriously.

But why did Papyrus feel as though-

Flowey suddenly sprang up from the ground, looking very cold, and very annoyed. "Finally! What took you so long?! It's freezing out here, and oh, guess what? I'm a _flower_! Did you forget that flowers can _die_ in the cold?!"

Papyrus winced. "I'M VERY SORRY TO MAKE YOU WAIT, FLOWERY. I SUSPECT THE RIVERPERSON WAS PURPOSELY TAKING THEIR TIME. FOR WHAT REASON, I'M NOT SURE."

"Whatever." Flowey's petals bristled as a breeze came through the area, and his entire face scrunched up as the top layer of snow on the ground followed the wind and covered him in white. "UGH. I can't take any more of this! Let's just go already!!"

Papyrus winced in sympathy, forever grateful that his lack of skin protected him from most of the weather's effects. "OF COURSE. I WILL MEET YOU THERE!"

Flowey dove back into the snow while Papyrus went into town on foot, walking south past Ice Wolf's station- which was of course abandoned- and into town between the librarby and Grillby's.

Dust clouded the air.

Despite not having lungs, Papyrus felt he couldn't breathe. He choked as particles of dust lodged in his throat, and a wave of nausea hit him as a fine layer of it settled on his bones. As soon as he felt it, he lost the contents of his hypothetical stomach, throwing up a pile of blue colored goo onto the snow. After that he remained on his knees, his bones rattling.

How many people were dead? How many monsters did the human kill while he was gone? He should've been here to protect everyone!

Ignoring his task to meet up with Flowey, Papyrus turned to his right and headed to Grillby's, to make sure that the people who managed to lock themselves in were still okay. But when he arrived, he had found that the doors were already wide open. He swallowed and gingerly stepped inside, his soul sinking in his rib cage as he observed the wreckage. Bar stools were thrown over, glass was carelessly shattered all over the floors, an odd looking red splatter was on the wall near the bar...

"HELLO?" Papyrus decided to call, not wanting to look at this mess much longer. "IS ANYONE HERE? PLEASE, I CAN GET YOU TO SAFETY. JUST COME OUT, YOU ARE SAFE NOW."

But nobody came.

The dogs, the children, Grillby... they were all dead.

"How did the human come in...?" Papyrus asked himself quietly, rubbing at his shoulder. Were they still in town, or did they leave already? Papyrus didn't know which one would be worse. Either the human left to kill monsters in different parts of the Underground or they were still in Snowdin, waiting to kill him next. Papyrus squeezed his eye sockets shut and forced himself to not think about it. He was going to stop the human for good, he couldn't waste time on dwelling on this. If the human truly was in Snowdin and came after him at any point, Papyrus would have to bravely fight them. And if he died, then Doctor Alphys would find another way to stop the Resets. He couldn't let his fears become an obstacle, not with everyone depending on him like this.

"THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING, GRILLBY, AND EVERYONE WHO WAS BRAVE ENOUGH TO BATTLE THE HUMAN," Papyrus said to the empty restaurant, standing tall. "I WILL MAKE SURE YOUR EFFORTS ARE NOT WASTED. YOU CAN COUNT ON ME TO MAKE THINGS RIGHT." And with that, Papyrus left the building, scarf billowing in the breeze, giving him the appearance of a superhero.

Which was a title that he did not feel he deserved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kinda understand why Sans doesn't like making promises 'cause damn I feel awful for saying I was gonna update that often. So I'm not ever saying that again xD
> 
> But with that in mind, I am sorry about the lateness. I'm not going to promise anything, haha, but I will TRY to update a little faster from now on.


End file.
